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TheStar.com | World | Is South African runner a he or a she?
Is South African runner a he or a she?
Fifty years ago, it was done with a peek under a dressing gown. Today, sex testing for athletes involves a panel of medical practitioners addressing a host of biological and psychological issues.
"It's complicated, very complicated, because of the shades of grey at the centre," said Dr. Robert McCormack, chief medical officer of Canada's Olympic teams.
Those shades of grey include genetic, physiological and social differences than can make it difficult – even from a scientific viewpoint – to decide where to draw the line between a woman and a man.
Citing those concerns, the Canadian Association of Sports Medicine recommended generalized gender verification be scrapped more than 10 years ago. But the practice continues, albeit in a more specialized, rarely used form.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight this week by the case of 18-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya. The teen has a muscular build, wispy facial hair and a deep voice.
More importantly, she has burst onto the world running scene. Even before she trotted to easy victory in the 800-metre event at the world track and field championships on Wednesday, an ugly whisper campaign had begun.
That prompted the International Association of Athletics Federations to open an investigation into Semenya's sexual identity.
It has left the IAAF baffled.
"At this stage, it's confusing," IAAF secretary-general Pierre Weiss said following Semenya's gold medal performance. "Personally, I have no clue what's going on. I rely on and trust our doctors."
The suggestion that Semanya is biologically a man has prompted anger from her family.
"I raised her and I have never doubted her gender," Semenya's father, Jacob, said. "She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."
One of the runner's cousins said Semenya had been teased throughout school for her looks. Her headmaster said he had wrongly assumed she was a boy until Grade 11.
While that humiliation plays out on a world stage, Semenya is keeping silent and continuing to undergo testing.
"While I feel terribly for this young girl, it's almost worse if this is just hanging out there as an accusation," said McCormack.
As recently as 20 years ago, female athletes competing at large international events were expected to carry a gender verification card.
However, the test widely used to obtain the card – a cheek swab – often produced false negatives. The practice came to be seen as unreliable and prejudicial. General testing was widely abandoned before the turn of the century.
In its place, a more comprehensive and less visible regime was installed. A team of experts is now assembled to tackle the issue. According to reports, the IAAF has enlisted an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a specialist in internal medicine, a psychologist and a gender expert in the effort.
The practice is so rare that McCormack said he could recall it being discussed at Olympic Games, but never actually being implemented.
Dr. Doug Richards, director of the University of Toronto's sports medicine clinic, outlined the process via email:
"She will be fully examined physically (Does she have a vagina, ovaries, a uterus?), generally (Does she have male-pattern secondary hair growth?), through her blood (her hormone levels), genetically (XX and XY), along with psychological testing by gender experts."
That seems like a lot of testing.
"Welcome to 2009," he wrote.
Even after all the tests, the results can be ambiguous. The majority of us have an XY (male) or XX (female) chromosome. Some people have XXY, XYY or XO chromosomes.
Others, like Indian runner Santhi Soundararajan, may have the XY chromosome, and all the outward physical characteristics of a woman. Soundararajan was stripped of her silver medal following gender verification at the 2006 Asian Games.
Transgendered athletes add a further wrinkle.
It makes it difficult to remember that this process was first envisioned as a way to keep men masquerading as women from entering athletic events.
As the process stretches on, controversy has begun to swirl around the IAAF's handling of Semenya's case. Why was the testing not conducted before Semenya reached the world championships?
McCormack suggested the delay was the result of the same problem most of us face when trying to see a specialist – getting an appointment takes forever. Test results could take weeks, and then must be analyzed. Follow-up tests could be required. .
"Beyond the questions – is she a she? Is she a he? – there's a young athlete who's going through hell right now," says Phyllis Berck, former head of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport. "She should have been far better protected."
With files from Associated Press
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/684404
A FEW CLOUDS
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TheStar.com | World | Is South African runner a he or a she?
Is South African runner a he or a she?
Fifty years ago, it was done with a peek under a dressing gown. Today, sex testing for athletes involves a panel of medical practitioners addressing a host of biological and psychological issues.
"It's complicated, very complicated, because of the shades of grey at the centre," said Dr. Robert McCormack, chief medical officer of Canada's Olympic teams.
Those shades of grey include genetic, physiological and social differences than can make it difficult – even from a scientific viewpoint – to decide where to draw the line between a woman and a man.
Citing those concerns, the Canadian Association of Sports Medicine recommended generalized gender verification be scrapped more than 10 years ago. But the practice continues, albeit in a more specialized, rarely used form.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight this week by the case of 18-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya. The teen has a muscular build, wispy facial hair and a deep voice.
More importantly, she has burst onto the world running scene. Even before she trotted to easy victory in the 800-metre event at the world track and field championships on Wednesday, an ugly whisper campaign had begun.
That prompted the International Association of Athletics Federations to open an investigation into Semenya's sexual identity.
It has left the IAAF baffled.
"At this stage, it's confusing," IAAF secretary-general Pierre Weiss said following Semenya's gold medal performance. "Personally, I have no clue what's going on. I rely on and trust our doctors."
The suggestion that Semanya is biologically a man has prompted anger from her family.
"I raised her and I have never doubted her gender," Semenya's father, Jacob, said. "She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."
One of the runner's cousins said Semenya had been teased throughout school for her looks. Her headmaster said he had wrongly assumed she was a boy until Grade 11.
While that humiliation plays out on a world stage, Semenya is keeping silent and continuing to undergo testing.
"While I feel terribly for this young girl, it's almost worse if this is just hanging out there as an accusation," said McCormack.
As recently as 20 years ago, female athletes competing at large international events were expected to carry a gender verification card.
However, the test widely used to obtain the card – a cheek swab – often produced false negatives. The practice came to be seen as unreliable and prejudicial. General testing was widely abandoned before the turn of the century.
In its place, a more comprehensive and less visible regime was installed. A team of experts is now assembled to tackle the issue. According to reports, the IAAF has enlisted an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a specialist in internal medicine, a psychologist and a gender expert in the effort.
The practice is so rare that McCormack said he could recall it being discussed at Olympic Games, but never actually being implemented.
Dr. Doug Richards, director of the University of Toronto's sports medicine clinic, outlined the process via email:
"She will be fully examined physically (Does she have a vagina, ovaries, a uterus?), generally (Does she have male-pattern secondary hair growth?), through her blood (her hormone levels), genetically (XX and XY), along with psychological testing by gender experts."
That seems like a lot of testing.
"Welcome to 2009," he wrote.
Even after all the tests, the results can be ambiguous. The majority of us have an XY (male) or XX (female) chromosome. Some people have XXY, XYY or XO chromosomes.
Others, like Indian runner Santhi Soundararajan, may have the XY chromosome, and all the outward physical characteristics of a woman. Soundararajan was stripped of her silver medal following gender verification at the 2006 Asian Games.
Transgendered athletes add a further wrinkle.
It makes it difficult to remember that this process was first envisioned as a way to keep men masquerading as women from entering athletic events.
As the process stretches on, controversy has begun to swirl around the IAAF's handling of Semenya's case. Why was the testing not conducted before Semenya reached the world championships?
McCormack suggested the delay was the result of the same problem most of us face when trying to see a specialist – getting an appointment takes forever. Test results could take weeks, and then must be analyzed. Follow-up tests could be required. .
"Beyond the questions – is she a she? Is she a he? – there's a young athlete who's going through hell right now," says Phyllis Berck, former head of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport. "She should have been far better protected."
With files from Associated Press
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/684404
